All MALS courses are usually conducted as discussion groups with a maximum enrollment of 15 and a minimum of 5. These courses are explicitly interdisciplinary and writing-intensive. Students may take courses other than those listed below, depending on availability and scheduling. Note: In addition to the courses listed below, the MALS program may offer special courses each semester. Students are encouraged to view the Course Scheduleand the Class Schedule forthese offerings.

The Foundational Seminars

MALS 5000—Introduction to Graduate Studies (3-0-3):
Required of all students. Emphasis on library research, using libraries from all over the Atlanta area,
internet research, and archival research. This course takes students from a variety of undergraduate disciplines
and trains them to conduct research in the selected areas of the graduate program.

And choose three courses (9 hours) from the following list:

ART 5000—Great Works in Art History (3-0-3):
A survey of the high points of art history which examines aesthetic, historical, cultural, psychological,
and other issues relating to art history, from various critical perspectives. The course will examine great works
of art, ranging from the highlights of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, to the classical era, on to the Renaissance,
and beyond to more modern masterpieces.

ENGL 5000—Great Books (3-0-3):
A course exploring the concept of “Great Books,” including the history and
definition of the concepts both of “book” and of “greatness.” Many texts (fiction and nonfiction, as well as poetic) will be read closely
in probing these definitions. The texts will range globally, from the earliest examples of writing
(including pre-literate, oral traditions) through the present. Texts will be read in English translation where necessary.
Both canonic writers (e.g., Homer, Mary Shelley) and writers outside conventional definitions of the canon will be considered.

MATH 5000—History of Mathematics (3-0-3):
This course is an exploration of the historical development of mathematics in various civilizations, ranging from Ancient Egypt through classical Greece, the Middle and Far East, and on to modern Europe. Topics may include the development of areas such as arithmetic, geometry (practical, deductive, and axiomatic), number theory, trigonometry, syncopated and symbolic algebra, probability and statistics, algebraic geometry, and calculus.

MUSC 5000—Great Works in Music History (3-0-3):
A study of monumental works of music from the Medieval period through the present day.
Works are chosen for their historical significance related to innovation in the art of music, to interest musically and artistically,
and to significance of posterity. The course will begin with a study of the elements of music, formal procedures, terminology,
and music history time-line so that all students (regardless of background) will have a solid foundation of understanding upon which to build.

PHIL 5000—Classics of Philosophy (3-0-3):
An examination of the original documents, the classic primary texts, in the history of philosophy in
Western Culture. Primary source readings--including Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, and Kant--will be supplemented by a
history-of-philosophy text that will place these works in historical and philosophical context.

POLS 5000—Great Political Thinkers (3-0-3):
Emphasis on major ancient, medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, modern,
and postmodern political philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Burke, Kant, Mill, Marx and
their modern philosophical legacy. Examination of the original documents, placed in contemporary historical and political perspective.
Discussion will focus on political philosophy's impact on the development of Western political ideology and institutions.

ENGL 5150—Studies in Shakespeare (3-0-3):This graduate-level survey of Shakespeare’s dramatic works before and after 1600 will emphasize the major comedies and tragedies and will usually offer attention to the histories, problem plays, and romances. Course content will include some attention to research methods and critical theory in the context of Shakespeare studies.

ENGL 5120—Studies in Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture (3-0-3):
An expansive course focusing on the major movements, issues, or themes in the study of nineteenth century American literature and culture. Topics may include the American Renaissance and Romanticism; Realism; Naturalism; evolving literary genres; African American fiction, non-fiction, and poetry; race and gender; and/or in-depth studies of selected writers.

ENGL 5130—Studies in Southern Literature (3-0-3):This course examines the major issues and themes in the study of Southern American literature. Topics will include the history of Southern culture, slave narratives, Civil War autobiography and memoir, the Southern Renaissance and its beginnings and influence, the “New South,” and comparative studies of gender and race.

ENGL 5140—Studies in Twentieth Century American Literature and Culture (3-0-3):
An expansive course focusing on the major movements, issues, or themes in the study of twentieth century American literature. Topics may include Modernism, Post-modernism, the Harlem Renaissance, Depression-era literature, the Southern Renaissance, American fiction since 1945, poetry, and/or major authors.

ENGL 5210—Studies in Renaissance Literature (3-0-3):A graduate-level survey of early modern English literature and literary culture, ca. 1500-1700. Typical areas of emphasis will include significant literary movements within the era, major authors, and/or attention to a specific genre. Course content will include some attention to historical context, research methods, and applied critical theory.

ENGL 5250—Studies in Nineteenth Century British Literature and Culture (3-0-3):
A graduate-level survey of nineteenth century British literature and literary culture, ca. 1780-1900. Typical areas of emphasis will include significant literary movements within the era, major authors, and/or attention to a specific genre. Course content will include some attention to historical context, research methods, and applied critical theory.

ENGL 5260—Studies in Twentieth Century and Twenty-First Century British Literature (3-0-3):
A graduate-level course focusing on the major movements, issues, or themes in the study of British fiction from the 20th and 21st centuries. Topics may include but are not limited to modernism, postmodernism, war literature, literature between the wars, minor literary movements (such as Angry Young Men, The Movement, Poets of the Apocalypse), and/or major authors.

ENGL 5300--Literature by American Women (3-0-3):A study of traditions in American women’s writing. The course may cover a wide range of texts for focus on a single theme, genre, period, literary movement, or cultural tradition.

ENGL 5350—Studies in Gender and Sexuality in American Literature and Culture (3-0-3):
A variable topics course, focusing on one or more of the major issues, movements, forms, or themes in the study of gender and sexuality in American literature and culture. Topics may include masculinity and femininity in literature, feminism and womanism, and traditions of gay self-representations.

ENGL 5400—Studies in African American Literature and Culture (3-0-3):
A course focusing on the major movements, issues, or themes in the study of African American literature and culture from the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Topics may include but are not limited to modernism, postmodernism, African American womanism, Africana womanism, and other literary movements such as The Harlem Renaissance, The Black Arts Movement, The New Black Aesthetic, and/or major authors.

ENGL 5410—The African American Novel (3-0-3):A course focusing on the major movements, issues, or themes in the study of the African American Novel from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Topics may include but are not limited to modernism, postmodernism, slave narrative, neo-slave narrative, the blues novel, and other literary movements such as The Harlem Renaissance, The Black Arts Movement, The New Black Aesthetic, and/or major authors.

ENGL 5450—Race and Ethnicity in American Literature and Culture (3-0-3):
This course examines the major issues, and themes in the study of race and ethnicity in American literature and culture. Topics will include African American literature, post-war Jewish fiction, Native American literature, whiteness studies, Chicano-Latino literature, Asian American literature, literature and racism, double consciousness, migration narratives, and comparative studies of racial and ethnic experience.

ENGL 5620—Postcolonial Theory and Literature (3-0-3):A graduate-level study of postcolonial literary theory and literature. Texts written in English from a variety of formerly colonized regions will be studied; including, but not limited to, Africa, the Caribbean, South and Southeast Asia, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The focus will be on such topics as imperialism, race, gender, ethnicity, nation, language, and representation.

ENGL 5710—Contemporary American Poetry (3-0-3):This course examines post-1960 American poetry and focuses on the poets who represent major developments in traditional and non-traditional poetics along with a consideration of the styles, trends, and influences that inform contemporary American poetry.

ENGL 5720—Contemporary American Fiction (3-0-3):This course examines the major movements, issues and themes in the study of contemporary American fiction. Topics may include Postmodernism; individual identity; race, class, and gender; dualism and pluralism; magic realism, and/or major authors.

ENGL 5800—Selected Topics in Literature and Culture (3-0-3):
A graduate-level seminar on special topics important to professional, postgraduate liberal studies. Typical areas of emphasis will include significant literary movements within a particular era of American, British or postcolonial cultures, major authors, and/or attention to a specific genre. Course content will include some attention to historical context, research methods, and applied critical theory.

History

Choose 6 courses (18 hours) from the following list:

HIST 5050—Historiography (3-0-3): An introduction to the basic skills, problems, materials and methods employed by professional historians for research and writing, and a systematic examination of the divergent interpretations, controversies and major schools of historical inquiry.

HIST 5100—African American History (3-0-3): An examination of the formation of African-American cultural identity from the early national period to the present, with emphasis on major formative events: slavery, the early development of cultural institutions, the reconstruction of life after slavery, northern migration during the world wars, the civil rights and black power movements of the 1950’s and 1960’s, and urbanization and class structure in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

HIST 5120—Colonial American History to 1763 (3-0-3):
A graduate seminar on Colonial American History with a focus on British North America. This course covers the colonization of North America through the end of the Seven Year’s War. A variety of topics and perspectives will be examined.

HIST 5125—The American Revolution and the New Nation, 1763-1815 (3-0-3):
A graduate seminar on the American Revolution and Early National Period. The course covers important topics such as the coming of the Revolution, the politics of the Revolution and 1780s, the Constitutional movement, the rise of the First Party System, and the impact of the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison. A variety of perspectives will be examined.

HIST 5130—Antebellum America and the Civil War, 1815-1865 (3-0-3):
A seminar on the antebellum period and the Civil War. The course covers important topics such as the coming of the Civil War, slavery, sectionalism, and the development of the American economy. A variety of perspectives will be examined.

HIST 5135—U.S. History from Reconstruction to World War I (3-0-3):
A seminar on United States history from Reconstruction to World War I. The course covers important topics such as race relations during Reconstruction, constitutional issues during the late nineteenth century, American industrialization, American imperialism, and the rise of the Populists and Progressives. A variety of perspectives will be examined.

HIST 5140—U.S. History from World War I to World War II (3-0-3):
A seminar on United States history from World War I through World War II. The course will cover important topics such as mobilization of the United States for war, the Great Depression, the New Deal, American political and cultural trends, and American foreign policy. A variety of perspectives will be examined.

HIST 5200—History of the American South (3-0-3):An in-depth look at the special contributions of the South to the evolution of the United States, and an analysis of the major themes of Southern History in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the role of ideas and values in the making of Southern history.

HIST 5400—Twentieth Century US History (3-0-3): An in-depth examination of recent US history from before the First World War through the Clinton presidency. Concentrating on the growth of the US as a major economic and political power, special attention will be devoted to the impact of industrialization, urbanization, immigration, reform movements, mass culture, domestic economic fluctuations, governmental expansion, and military involvements during the twentieth century, as well as the political and cultural responses of Americans during this time of enormous change.

HIST 5500—Twentieth Century World History (3-0-3): An intensive investigation of the political, social and cultural developments of the twentieth century world. Topics to be discussed include the birth of the twentieth century, the emergence of global industrialization and imperialism, the worldwide depression, the first and second World Wars, the end of the European world order, the Cold War, postcolonial Africa and Asia, the demise of European communism, and the arrival of globalization.

HIST 5520—Themes in World History from the Congress of Vienna to 1914 (3-0-3):
A seminar on global history during the nineteenth century. The course can be offered either as an in depth approach to one specific topic during the nineteenth century or as a sweeping overview of major trends and movements in nineteenth century world history. Possible topics could be industrialization, imperialism, cultural movements, and nationalism.

HIST 5530—Themes in Twentieth Century World History (3-0-3):
A seminar on a particular aspect of world history in the twentieth century. The topic will be chosen by the instructor.

HIST 5600—The Atlantic World (3-0-3): An examination of the histories, cultures and connections between peoples living around the Atlantic Ocean, specifically in Africa and the Caribbean, from the 15th century to the present. The course will pay particular attention to the destruction and reconfiguration of indigenous societies, the era of slavery and the slave trade, the links forged between the Caribbean and Africa through the Pan-African movement, as well as colonization and independence and the successes and failures of the post colonial state.

HIST 5700—American Military History (3-0-3): A study of the American military art from the earliest days of frontier offensives to present-day global concerns. Focuses on the creation of American military institutions, the genesis of policy-making and maintenance of civilian control over that process, the inter-relationship between foreign and military policy, the conduct of war, and the influence of American society upon the armed forces as social institutions.

HIST 5800—Modern American Popular Culture (3-0-3): An exploration of several institutional aspects of the vast, pervasive, complex, and fascinating phenomenon of American popular culture in the 20th century, in particular the rise of mass entertainment as a form of communication and community formation. Course readings will introduce students to the cultural history of comics, feature films, music, literature, radio, television and sports as commodities and as expressions of identity in a diverse nation.

HIST 5850—Directed Readings in History (3-0-3):
A directed readings course on a special topic in history agreed upon by the student, instructor, and the MALS director. The course may be repeated once for credit as long as topics differ.

HIST 5900—Environmental History (3-0-3): Explores the complex and ever-changing interrelationship over time between human society and the natural environment, the differing perceptions of nature held by people and how those ideas and human activities regarding nature combined in ways that reshaped the American landscape.

HIST 6950—Selected Topics in History (3-0-3):
A graduate seminar on a special topic in history. The course can be offered as a regular term seminar course or as independent study. Topics will usually focus on American History. The course may be repeated for credit when topics vary.

Math

Choose 6 courses (18 hours) from the following list:

MATH 5130—Applied Algebra (3-0-3): This course is an investigation of how the theory of abstract algebra is applied to solve non-theoretical problems. Topics are selected from applications in exact computing, error correcting codes, block designs, crystallography, integer programming, cryptography and combinatorics. Students will work both individually and in groups on projects from the chosen topics.

MATH 5220—Applied Statistics (3-0-3): This course is an introduction to multiple regressions, analysis of variance, and other selected inference methods. Topics will be selected from chi-square tests, non-parametric statistical methods, analysis of variance using simple experimental designs, and multiple regression methods, including model building, model checking, and analysis of residuals. Throughout the course, real data and computer software will be utilized.

MATH 5250—Elementary Number Theory (3-0-3):
This course is an introduction to the mathematical treatment of concepts related to the system of integers. Topics will include divisibility, factorization, prime numbers, congruencies, number theoretic functions, and Diophantine equations.

MATH 5231—Modern Geometry (3-0-3):
This course is a study of Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries. Topics will be explored through historical perspectives, formal geometric proofs, technology-based investigations, and modern applications.

MATH 5520—Introduction to Analysis (3-0-3):
This course is a rigorous introduction to analysis functions on Euclidean space. Topics include limits, continuity, sequences, series, differentiation, integration, and sequences and series of functions.

MATH 5800—Special Topics (3-0-3):
This course is a directed study in areas of special interest not covered in listed courses. This course may be repeated if topics vary. Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

Philosophy

PHIL 5200—Ancient Philosophy (3-0-3): In this course we will examine the philosophical literature of the eighth century B.C.E. through the third century C.E., including Pre-Socratic thought, Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Skepticism, with special emphasis on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

PHIL 5300—Philosophy of Law (3-0-3):
In this course we will examine philosophical issues in law and legal theory. These issues fall into three broad categories of study: (1) questions relating to the moral authority of law and its limits, questions of civil disobedience, and theories of punishment; (2) general theories of the nature of law (natural law, legal positivism, and critical theories of law as a practice of social domination); (3) questions about the role of courts and constitutions in a democratic society.

PHIL 5350—Social & Political Philosophy (3-0-3):
In this course we will examine a number of the main figures, texts, and ideas in the history of Western social and political thought. We will move from classical accounts of politics and community in Plato and Aristotle, to modern ideas of liberalism and socialism in Locke, Mill, Rousseau, and Marx (16th century to present), concluding with a look at more contemporary thinkers on issues of social justice and the welfare state, race and gender inequality, and the status of freedom and democracy in pluralistic, globalized societies.

PHIL 5400—Medieval Philosophy (3-0-3):
In this course we will examine the philosophy of the middle ages (dating from the fourth through sixteenth centuries C.E.). Special attention will be paid to the medieval incorporation of the Greco-Roman, Jewish and Islamic traditions, the thirteenth-century birth of the university and the gradual transition from medieval to modern philosophy.

PHIL 5500—Women in Philosophy (3-0-3):
The goals of the course are to come to a deeper understanding of what people over the ages have said on the issues of gender, to understand the social and theoretical complexities underlying our basic distinction between women and men, and to gain a better understanding of how race, class, nationality, sexuality, and culture influence and underlie our cultural and personal ideas and ideals about women.

Political Science

POLS 5100—American Politics (3-0-3): Emphasis on major ancient, medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, modern, and postmodern political philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Burke, Kant, Mill, Marx and their modern philosophical legacy. Examination of the original documents, placed in contemporary historical and political perspective. Discussion will focus on political philosophy's impact on the development of Western political ideology and institutions.

POLS 5110—Federalism(3-0-3):
A graduate seminar on the complex relationships between the federal, state and local levels of American government. The course covers important topics such as the historical and philosophical foundations of federalism, the powers of the federal government and the states, federal preemption, fiscal federalism, grants and federal mandates. A variety of perspectives will be examined.

POLS 5139—Public Law (3-0-3):
A graduate seminar exploring American public law, its historical and philosophical origins, the federal and state judiciary and its processes, themes in American constitutional law and civil liberties and related topics. A variety of perspectives will be examined.

POLS 5155—Campaigns and Electoral Politics
(3-0-3):
A graduate seminar exploring interest groups, political parties, political campaigns, elections and related topics. A variety of perspectives will be examined.

POLS 5170—Legislative Process(3-0-3):
A graduate seminar exploring the U.S. Congress and similar legislative bodies at the state and local levels of American government. The course covers important topics such as the historical and philosophical foundations of legislatures, their powers, structure and leadership, the exercise of legislative authority power and related topics. A variety of perspectives will be examined.

POLS 5180—Presidential Politics(3-0-3):
A graduate seminar exploring the American presidency and its political environment. The course covers important topics such as the historical and philosophical foundations of executive governance, the powers of the president, the exercise of presidential power and related topics. A variety of perspectives will be examined.